My god Facebook can be an ugly little sandbox to play in. It seems populated by narcissistic bullies who feel it is their right to yell as loudly as possible about what their beliefs are and try to shame you into seeing things their way. There is no compromise, there is no fear of repercussions, and there is little or no consideration of other’s feelings. If it was a bar I walked in to I wouldn’t even order a drink.

It was probably this 1972 Mick Rock photo (Pictured below) that first alerted me to Lou Reed. I would have been 13 at the time and I imagine it appeared in Rock Scene or Creem! magazine. It may have been my first real impression of Iggy Pop as well, just being in the company of David Bowie made them both cool in my eyes. At that point I didn’t know who the Velvet Underground was and I didn’t own a Stooges record. Like any great artist Bowie led me to many others.

In 1975, my radio listening was shifting from CHLO and the AM stations. I was being influenced by the pronouncements of my peers. It never occurred to me at the time that they didn’t know anything more than I did. They seemed so sure . . . like a grammar school friend who, in 9th grade, dismissed David Bowie and everything he’d done because his older sisters had told him Bowie was gay. Because this friend of mine was to play the saxophone, and — as was a lot more common in southwestern Ontario and other places in 1975 — he was proudly homophobic, he was outraged that Bowie was depicted with a sax on the cover of Pin-Ups. I still liked Bowie. I just didn’t mention that to the guy who hated him.

With no real hits in their native U.S.A., a diminishing presence in the U.K., and a growing fan base in France, times were interesting for the brothers Mael until a former fan club member came to the rescue.

The best band you may have never heard. 22 studio albums. Formed in 1968 and still active to this day. Brothers Ron and Russell Mael are the nucleus and a cast of hundreds have helped them on their long “Rollercoaster” journey. They are a tough band to define in that they have experimented with almost all forms of modern music, often very ahead of the curve. Russell is the flamboyant falsetto-voiced front man and Ron is the silent, well dressed (except for the Chaplin meets Hitler moustache) keyboardist and chief songwriter. They have had brilliant highs and some questionable lows but are still the band I reach out to when I need a lift. A check of my most played songs on my iPod will attest to that. Here we go, Sparks Part One.